Primary Sources: Original Documents in Electronic Format

Ackermann's Repository, or "The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics" (40 volumes, 1809-1828) was an illustrated British periodical published by Rudolph Ackermann. It includes illustrations of furniture, interiors, architecture, fashion, sporting life, and more. The Internet Archive provides full text of the copy owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. See (1809) vol. 1, (1809) vol. 2, (1810) vol. 3, etc.

Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1801-1920) and its predecessor The Botanical Magazine (1787-1800) are available online through the Biodiversity Heritage Library. In addition, the Rare Books Collection of the USDA National Agricultural Library provides selected plates online from Curtis and other early natural history publications.

Documenting
the American South from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill is a collection of digitized primary source materials focusing on Southern history and culture.
Although not specifically concerned with the decorative arts, this site
is useful for the history and literature of the area.

Dominy Craftsmen Collection provides digitized archival documents (accounts, letters, receipts), along with articles, a videotaped symposium at the East Hampton Historical Society, and more, relating to the Dominy family of East Hampton, New York. Three generations of Dominys functioned as craftsmen from ca. 1760 to ca. 1850. Their work included producing tall case clocks and furniture, repairing thousands of pocket watches, and supplying agricultural tools to farmers in East Hampton township.

Eighteenth-Century E-Texts is a listing of publicly available electronic texts, maintained by Prof. Jack Lynch of Rutgers University. Browse list by author name.

Encyclopédie
ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
of Diderot and d'Alembert (1751-1772), the massive reference work of French
Enlightenment knowledge in 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates,
is available in a searchable online version under the auspices of the
ARTFL Project. To browse a list of all illustrations: (1) select "advanced search," (2) in the "type of entry" box type: plate_legend, (3) hit search. Alternatively, add additional French search terms, e.g. meubles (for furniture), for focused results. Some of the Encyclopedie is also available in English at a companion project
in process. See the collaborative
translation website.

Le
Garde-meuble, ancien et moderne (Furniture Repository, Ancient and
Modern) was a 19th-early 20th century French periodical consisting entirely of illustrations
of designs for furniture, window treatments and room settings. This online
document presents the Smithsonian Institution Libraries' nearly complete
set of the early (1841-1851) issues.

Internet Library
of Early Journals provides full text for large runs of 18th and 19th
century British journals including the Annual Register, The
Builder, Gentleman's Magazine and others.

Internet
Modern History Sourcebook, edited by Paul Halsall of Fordham University,
is a metasite for history documents. The site provides links to publicly available historical texts. The texts are not specifically
concerned with decorative arts but are useful for historical perspective
and context. Information on the Internet History Sourcebook Project is available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/.

Making of America
is a collaborative effort of the University of Michigan and Cornell University to provide primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Over
10,000 books are included.

MESDA Craftsman Database is a collection of primary source information on 85,000 artisans practising 127 trades in the early South.

Secondary Sources: Journals and More

American Art, published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum includes tables of contents online. Those with access to (licensed) JSTOR may get full text.

American
Antiquity is the principal journal for the Society of American Archaeology.
Tables of contents from 1995, with abstracts from 1999 to present, are
available. Journal is included full text in (licensed) JSTOR.

American
Furniture, published yearly by the Chipstone Foundation, provides full text
online for articles from 1993-2001, with selected full text in recent issues.

Antiques
and the Arts is a weekly newsletter for the arts and antiques market,
primarily concerned with American and decorative art. Selections from the newsletter and a
calendar of events are available through
the site.

Ceramics in America, published yearly by the Chipstone Foundation, provides full text online for most articles from 2001-7, with selected full text in more recent issues.

Common-Place, sponsored by the American Antiquarian Association, is an interactive journal for the exploration of early American life. Published quarterly. The "Object Lessons" subsection focuses on material culture.

Journal
of American History, published by the Organization of American Historians, provides selected articles and other content online. Full text is included in (licensed) JSTOR.

Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts is published by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) at Old Salem. This is a scholarly, refereed e-journal presenting new research about the decorative arts and material culture of the American South prior to 1860. Full text is available.

Journal
of Material Culture contains tables of contents and abstracts from 1996 to current issue. Full text is available in UW-Madison licensed databases.

Maine
Antique Digest is a print publication for the art and antiques market
with an online supplement. Access to some information may require registration
and/or a print subscription.

William and Mary
Quarterly, a journal devoted to early American history, published by the Omohundro Institute, provides tables of contents online for issues from 1945-present. Full text is available via (licensed) JSTOR.